(1.) Field of the Invention
This invention relates to apparatus for improving or supplementing heat sources available to a heat pump.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
Heat pumps represent a novel approach to heating and air conditioning a home with substantially the same apparatus. Heat pump units have an inside air coil and an outside air coil. The inside air coil directly heats or cools the inside air from the home and the outside air coil dissipates the heat transferred from the inside of the home or recovers heat from the outside air for use in heating the inside air. Refrigerant in the coils, which are interconnected, flows from the inside air coil to the outside air coil during the air conditioning cycle and flows from the outside air coil to the inside air coil during the heating cycle. Auxiliary electrical heat strips are actuated when the capacity of the heat pump is not able to handle the heating demands of a particular room or area of the home. Thus, a heat pump is a type of heat exchanger used in heating or cooling a home. The heating or cooling cycle is actuated by a thermostat in the home. Outside controls actuate defrost cycles which occur about every 90 minutes in the air conditioning cycle for a three minute period to remove ice or frost which may accumulate on the outside air coil.
Heat pumps are primarily used in warmer geographical areas because there is little heat to recover from the air at lower outside temperatures. One end of the heat pump exhausts into ducts traversing the rooms of the home. The other end of the heat pump has a grill for the input of outside air. Blower and fan motors circulate the air past the air coils and a compressor circulates the refrigerant passing back and forth through the air coils.
A number of different apparatus have been developed over the years for enhancing the performance of heat pumps. Some have related solely to defrosting cooling units by radiant heat from light bulbs or by controlling the defrosting cycles. Others have been addressed to retarding or accelerating cooling by the supplementary heating or cooling of the capillary tubing carrying the refrigerant. Still others have introduced supplementary apparatus for precooling or preheating air passing by the inside air coil. At least one suggested an energy saving cover for evaporative coolers.
The present invention takes a simpler approach than the prior art by reducing the overall power consumption of heat pump systems by the use of a simple electric heater to forestall the actuating of the auxiliary heat strips. The heat means of the present invention supplies heat for absorption by the outside air coil at a lower cost than actuation of the heat strips. The Heat Bonnet is also unique in that this improvement requires no modification of the basic heat pump unit.
Prior art known to this inventor includes the following U.S. Pat. Nos.:
______________________________________ 2,229,569 1/1941 Hoesel 2,234,474 3/1941 Higham et al. 3,127,930 4/1964 Tenniswood 3,159,981 12/1964 Huskey 4,024,722 7/1977 McCarty 4,204,409 5/1980 Satema 4,402,193 9/1983 McFee 4,415,023 11/1983 Vandervaart 4,484,567 11/1984 Sikora 4,612,778 9/1986 Medrano 4,732,012 3/1988 Thorpe 4,761,964 8/1988 Pacheco ______________________________________